Justice and fairness are not necessarily the same things. This book brings to light the problems with the court system. The author also focuses on laws and ideals within the system that cause more issues than solutions. I feel like the court system as with many other helpful government entities are broken beyond repair

Courts of Law Not Courts of Justice brings an extremely enthralling introduction and supreme court cases to his readers explaining the US criminal justice system with all of its morality and flaws. This book is an informative read for law students and attorneys in the criminal justice world to understand the present state of the American Justice System. Eric D Oberer, an experienced former prosecutor in one of the most violent and highest crime cities in America, Baltimore, Maryland explains in his book why justice is insuperably difficult to achieve in courts of law in this country. When people in America expect fairness, recourse, justice, and peace from the American criminal justice system, the system itself is not meant or designed to find justice but frustrates them. Many important protections were included among the first fourteen amendments to the United States Constitution for the reason which lead to the violent overthrow of oppression of the tyrannical King of Great Britain that terrorized the North American colonies in 1776. It is surprising that justice is rarely found in the US courtroom, therefore many citizens take the law into their hands. The author has brought to light the complexities of the US criminal justice system of law first existed greatly keeping in mind the concern to protect innocent people changed with crimes they did not commit. The author also educates and discusses with his readers the definition of rule of law by the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law index as a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment that upholds four universal principles: Accountability, Just laws, Open Government, Accessible and Impartial Dispute Resolution.

The author has highlighted also unjust policing tactics, police brutality, misconduct, racism, and discrimination. Harlem Riots 1964, Tampa Riots 1967, Camden New Jersey 1971, Queens New York Riots 1973, Houston TX Riots 1978, San Francisco CA Riots 1979, Miami Riots 1980, Miami Riots 1989, Los Angeles Riots 1992, Cincinnati Riots 2001, Oakland Riots 2010, New York City Riots 2014, The Missouri Riots 2014, Baltimore Riots 2015, Nationwide protests & Riots 2020.

The author further explains Disparities in Justice and the Broken Windows Theory quoting:

"The criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered?" - Benjamin Cardoza, New York Court of Appeals Judge (1914-1932 and late Supreme Court Justice (1932-1938); People v Defore, 242 N.Y 13 (1926)

"The criminal goes free if he must, but it is the law that sets him free." - Mapp v Ohio, 367 U.S 643 (1961)

The author teaches a handful of famous criminal cases which helped me being a legal professional to understand which are important to review in providing justice arising from the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteen Amendments.

I just reviewed the book, Courts of Law Not Courts of Justice, by Eric Oberer, Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher Atmosphere Press for an advance copy of my honest Review.

In this book the author explains how our court system is it really set up for justice but actually follows a strict list of rules that doesn’t always equal fairness. The first half of the book is historical court cases that have our most essential rights such as our Miranda rights our rights to a lawyer and many more but then further in the book he goes to explain his main premise of how these are courts of law and not courts of justice. Although we strive hard and theory to make sure everyone’s rights are protected it is true that court or more lenient to those with oodles of money as a post to the poor. I am only thankful that I had an uncle who was the town sheriff and his brother Tosh who was the town judge NBA were overly sensitive to being kind to the less fortunate of any color. They were a great example Ronaldo to man cannot solve the worlds problems I am thankful I come from people who also didn’t contribute to send issues. I love this book and totally agree with that and although I was a little thrown off with the court case about the Vory driver… Only because we Do Not Dr., Lori‘s in America or at least that isn’t what we call them. So at first I thought I was reading a book about Britain’s judicial system I was quickly disavowed of that notion and just thought I would mention it here. I did love this book and thought it was greatly done and I love the way without bias he told the story then let the reader make up their mind that is the mark of a truly talented author I really enjoyed this book and highly highly recommend it. I received this book from NetGalley and atmosphere press but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I am torn on this book. I was curious about the argument Oberer makes in the book, specifically that our justice system is built not to deliver "justice" but to follow the rule of law that may result in seemingly unjust outcomes. However, this is a book clearly taking the framing of a former prosecutor. Oberer points often to Benjamin Franklin's idea that “it is better a hundred guilty persons should escape than one innocent person should suffer.” But Oberer's perspective is that this is a problem with the system, and maybe that one innocent person should suffer so the hundred guilty people can suffer with them. By characterizing the people our criminal procedure safeguards let free as "bad men" it makes it easier to argue that these safeguards are dangerous and stand in the way of justice. Except our Miranda rights, our right to a speedy trial, our right to an attorney and against self incrimination all serve to ensure that the playing field is more level for defendants who are not experienced actors in the legal system and who are innocent until proven guilty (by the state) [I should note that I am a law student attending the same law school the author graduated from]. This is a book written by a prosecutor, and I do not think every point Oberer makes is wrong, but I do recognize that he and I have different perspectives on the criminal justice system. Oberer does point to problems in the past that made criminal justice less effective, like Broken Windows policing destroying community trust, but it all comes from the virus metaphor for structural defects in the system (i.e. we stopped Broken Windows, so things will get better, not that the core of our system is racist, classist, and fundamentally unjust and these minor fixes will not actually solve the core issues of why criminal justice does not work).

Another major issue I have with this book is that it is under researched. There are a few passages where Oberer says something along the lines of "X is probably true," which is not ideal for a nonfiction book, especially when some of those things are verifiable through further research. That is not to say I did not learn anything from this book. Oberer's descriptions of his time at the State's Attorneys office were fascinating in learning about the "War Room" in Baltimore and the challenges from the lack of resources and picking an unbiased jury. But that was only a part of the book. There was also a section introducing the reader to criminal procedure (which was not inaccurate, but definitely oversimplifies how it functions in terms of the exceptions and minimizations of the case law Oberer points to), then Oberer gives brief details of past criminal cases where "justice" was not done, before turning to a brief history of civil unrest in America. It is very readable, but a lot of it feels too surface level to make Oberer's argument effectively.

While I disagreed with the book and had more issues with it, I am also an aspiring attorney who has learned a lot of this material before. If you want a brief introduction to criminal procedure or a gateway into famous cases and riots in American history, then this book is a decent gateway into those fields.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.